Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

The centre of gravity in Kevin Reynolds’s film is Alan Rickman’s Sheriff. Finding the script terrible, Rickman had friends rewrite his lines: Peter Barnes wrote the corridor exchange where the Sheriff summons two women to his room at set times, and Ruby Wax added the tag about bringing a friend. Rickman told nobody but Reynolds. The same imbalance reached the cutting room. When the studio kept demanding re edits to enlarge Costner and stop Rickman stealing the picture, Reynolds walked out weeks before release and skipped the screening. Costner’s accent carries the same indecision: he wanted an English one, Reynolds thought it would distract, and the delivery shifts scene to scene. Sean Connery plays King Richard uncredited, cutting his fee to 250,000 dollars and giving it to a Scottish hospital. Robin’s first encounter with the Sheriff’s men was shot at the Sycamore Gap tree on Hadrian’s Wall, felled on 28 September 2023. The film’s theme was nominated in the Music (Original Song) category at the 64th Academy Awards, music by Michael Kamen, and lost to Beauty and the Beast. A good fit if you do not mind the Sheriff taking the film from Robin. Not for viewers who want the Sheriff explained; only the 2003 Special Edition, which adds 12 minutes, says Mortianna is his mother.